FRIENDS AFTER THE WAR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 169, 28 April 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

FRIENDS AFTER THE WAR.

SOME REMINDERS OE WHAT GERMANY DID BEFORE ll'. By SIR GEORGE MAKGILL, Bt. {Secretary of the Anti-German Union). Much has been said and written upon the possibility of a German invasion of England, but how many of us realisei eighteen months ago that England had been invaded already? Ido not mean invasion in the purely military uense. This irvasion has neither been preceded by an ultimatum nor heralded w...<i the roll of gunfire. It has been silent, gradual, almost imperceptible in its stealthy advance. As in Belgium, France and Russia, the German invasion began with an attack upon our commerce, industry and business.

To laku on* or two cases only. At one time in the chemical industry England was supreme. Many years ago, however, young Germans with special training began to come here, often working for nothing under pretence 01 learning the language. They learned our methods. They carried them back to Germany—with the result that at the outbreak of war we had become so dependent on Germany for chemical products that we are even now paying 4, 5, or even more times their normal price for medical preparations from German sources, simply because we can no longer produce them here. And the money so spent is he'ping our enemies. The dye trade was formerly almost exclusively British, yet we all know that when war came we found ourselves dependent <m Germany io* most ol our dyes. At one time our indigo dyes for naval uniforms and other purposes were imported from India and formed an important industry. Some yeais ago a firm under German control began to produce a cheap artificial dye by a German process. The natural dye produced from the*ndigo plant was discarded for the cheap German product, and our Indian indigo planters weio nearly ruined.

"PEACEFUL INVASION." I might give other illustrations —the steel and iron trade, the bottle trade, the pottery ware, leather and fancy goods, and many others. I might show that German firms.had' gained control of the e'ectric industry in the country so completely that when war Lroke out wc found our suppl yof electr.c fittings, torches, lamps, etc., almost wholly in German hands.' 1 might point to the metal trade and the ramifications of the Metallgeselschaft and its tranches and subsidiaries, which had sc completely captured the Australian supply of metals and had so powerful an influence here that one of this ring of Ger-man-controlled firms was acting as hrokers to the British Government in time of war. In this tonenctbn I may refer to a common argument ot the " friends-after-the-war" school of proGermans. These worthy persons deplore what they regard l as this unfortunate temporary misunderstanding with Germany, and they implore what they regardas this unfortunate temporary misunderstanding with Germany, and thev implore you to remember that " we must live and trade with them after the war." They argue that there are many things which we must r,uy from Germany, and give instances, one of their favourite cases being the rare metal wolfram, which is essential to the manufacture of the hardest steel. Now let us pick out this case. The world's supplies of wolfram came chiefly from Australia, America, and Cornwalal. Little or no wolfram ore is found in Germany; but until war brok? out the CerniJi ore was shipped as ore to Germany, was then treateo, and the metal wolfram was exported to England. Whv? There is no real reason why ; English chemists should not reduce these ores. But we have had no nation- j al policy for the Empire, while Ger- I many has had a national policy of pana- j Gorman aggrandisement and has used j all her powers to gain control of every mineral or metal that was essential for producing munitions of war. Our Gov- j ernments having no national policy, ; save that of "Let alone" and ''Wait | and -e-?. : ' have made no effo-t to stay | the insidious tide of German invasions j in this ana other direction-. With how many British lives have we paid j for our sins of omission?

GERMANIC INFLUENCE. And this brings us to another aspect of the Gorman invasion—the political. Lanoir in his exposure of the German spy system in France gives proof of the u-e of German secret service money in I'rnch elections and in stirring up labour troubles. Ho states that at a pubIk- meeting lie "beard a statement made openly, publicly, and w.th pride by a candidate win lias since Income a deputy, belonging to the international revolutionary party, to the effect that lie had received t'loo from G "'many to cover expenses of his candidature tor the French Parliament.*' Here in Englan due have all seen the case of the notorious Trebitsch Lincoln, a self-con-fexsct. spy, who actually sat >n Parliament as a t'vec Trader. 'lake the list of "Honours' created between Jf.nuary, 19(X5, and August, IPN, and note the number of persons with Germanic names who received knighthoods, baronetcies or Privy Councillorships, and it afford- loud for thought. Such "honour!.'' arc notoriously given for political "services, generally in the form of contributions Z> party funds. It need- no u-ry deep deduction to arrive at a crnclu-ioii. Some oi these gentlemen »>!':■ proniinent i nthe anti-armament an | n:-Ger-ma ncampaign that »;:• chief !> responsible i- r our lack of preparation lor war. Others were influent.a! It: finance or bii-i.it-.-., and. having large coiiiniori i,i| i-: iinection- and intore-t- m Geriniiiiy. must have been well aware at the approaching crisis. Yet we do not liear that any ol them warned tlic nation or urged the Government to prepare l'ii' war. 0:;n any sane nan suppose that this remarkable irruption oi Germanic names with tlths u Govern- j :nent appointments had no ■ ri.neetioii :it all with the pro-German aUittaio addopted in pre-war days by eort im party politicians who need r:et now he namec. ': i

When we regaid the li : .-t<.'.v of the I>; ,~t o:j>htoen months nothing strikes ii- more tlinn tlie incrediMy weak attitmle adopted liv our oov< nnii< nt departments toward- the en.'ley. AM over England people of every class are asking wli\ Gorman reservists vvrro iillovveifa week at the bej-'ininne: o!' the war t„ n.join the colours: why '.lie Navy h;is I,cm fettered with re-irietions: v.liv cotton, iron, urmy stores ol many kinds, cotton-cake, cotton - < (1 <;i. etc. we'e iillo\vi>(! for many month-, to <>ter (ii-rnianv prnctitallv vvithoni restriction, and nwinv people natural'v irqui'c whether nil these ovidenee-i ,<f tenderness to f.nr foes are Tint do :<< the influence of naturalised Germans in hijrh phiees with a irrip on our f;u uees ind politics. Tf not. to \\l'"iu do"S (Jer-pi"-v ov,-.' all Ihese (videi(<>- oi rro,.-d----will?

IMMIGRANTS IN ARMY CORPS

The invasion has been physical as well as industrial and political. During the past two decades an increasing number of Germans have settled in the country. Many have been naturalised'. some have become wealthy, have bought land and built great mansions. Others have rented smaller country houses or have taken shops or offices. It is extremely difficult to gain from official data any reliable figures of the number ot Germans in England at the outbreak of war. Estimates vary from 80,000 io 280,000. The latter is a German estimate, and is probably not far from the mark. Germans boasted before war broke out that they had two army corps of reservisto here. The remarkable po.'nt is that those German immigrants are frequently grouped together in what may be called settlements, and that these settlements are elmost always placed in some dominant position commanding the surrounding country, an important railway unction, munition works, water reservoir, 01 other point of strategic importance. Wossolitsky. Claes, and other writers have shown that the same phenomenon lias been observed in Russia, Belgium, and ntho: countries. Their purpose in those eases has been too well demonstrated by this war. Are we to stiDp.se that in England alone the choice of ''strategic" positions has been mere chance? Some years ago a distinguished British officer pointed out in a lecture (privately printed) that the Germans in England were distributed upon a military plan according to the German army corps to which they bc'onged as reservists. Is this also mere chance or must we conclude that there has been design in this procession of coincidences? There can be but one answer. Tue invasion of England has gone further than we dreamed; and if in the early days of the war the opportunity for an armed raid had offerer, we should have had learned to our cost that there was a deep-laid scheme of co-oper.itimi between the enemy without and the foe within the gate. It is time that the British people recognised the danger of harbouring these enemies in the | guisp of friends and demanded prompt j measures to prevent for all time another stealthy invasion of our 5} ores. i